Joele Frank does one thing: financial and corporate communications for companies in their highest-stakes moments. Most names on Observer’s list of the most powerful PR firms work across the whole field, from consumer brands to public affairs. Reaching the top of that list while specializing this narrowly is the point.
Observer placed Joele Frank second on its 2026 list of the 50 most powerful PR firms. The publication has run the ranking since 2018 as an assessment of influence across the industry, spanning consumer, corporate, public affairs and financial communications.
Observer’s list ranks influence, not size. Joele Frank works from two offices, in New York and San Francisco, with 26 partners and roughly 200 staff. Its place near the top reflects the kind of work it takes on rather than the number of markets it covers.
A concentrated book of work
The firm’s claim to influence rests on the work it takes on. The Deal’s league tables have ranked Joele Frank first among U.S. M&A communications advisers since 2013, and the firm has led shareholder-activism defense since 2019. It topped Bloomberg’s 2025 activism table, handling 80 defense assignments against the runner-up’s 31.
Those are the moments when a company and its board are most exposed: a hostile bid, a proxy fight, a restructuring. Advising in those situations puts a communications firm in the room with the board, chief executives, directors, bankers and lawyers at the point of maximum pressure. Power on Observer’s terms flows partly from that access.
A substantial portion of Joele Frank’s work is concentrated in the highest-stakes, bet the company corporate situations. The firm reports more than 50 ongoing Fortune 200 clients and says 70% of its event-driven clients stay on after the initial assignment ends. A retention figure at that level suggests the project work converts into longer relationships.
What the ranking signals
A No. 2 placement on a 50-firm list does not settle which agency is largest or most profitable. It registers standing. Observer’s editors weighed Joele Frank against the full field of holding-company networks and independents and placed it near the top, its highest position on a list it has appeared on since 2018.
The ranking sits alongside the league-table results: first in U.S. M&A communications since 2013 and first in activism defense since 2019. Read together, the placements point to the same conclusion from three different scorekeepers.
